Cp  283.03 


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of  lijc 

nibergttp  of  JJortf)  Carolina 


From  the  Library  of 


. 


THE  SERMON 


T 


Ai*r> 


ADDRESSES 


DBLIVBKED   ON   THE  OCCASION   OIT 

THE   CONSECRATION 


OK. 


TRINITY  CHURCH 


SGOTLtAND  NECK,  N.  C. 


SUNDAY,  JULY  5th,  1903. 


EXAM  &  DOOLEY,  PRINTERS, 

CHARLOTTE,  N.  C. 

1903, 


i 


■ 


TRINITY  PARISH,  SCOTLAND  NECK,  N.  C. 

ADMITTED  TO  THE  CONVOCATION  IN  1833. 
THE  REV.  GIRARD  W.  PHELPS,  Rector. 

VESTRYMEN: 

Richard  H.  Smith,  Senior  Warden,     James  S.  Panll,  Junior  Warden 
Arthur  Luther  Purrington,  Dr.  James  Edward  Shields, 

Charles  H.  Herring,  John  Y.  Savage, 

Edward  W.  Hymau. 


The  first  Church  was  consecrated  in  1832,  the  second  in  1855,  the 
third  was  opened  for  service  in  1886,  and  was  consecrated  by  the 
Rt.  Rev.  Jos.  Blount  Cheshire,  D.  D.,  Bishop  of  the  Diocese  of 
North  Carolina,  on  the  Fourth  Sunday  after  Trinity,  July  5th,  1903, 
having-  been  erected  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Peter  E.  Smith,  in 
conjunction  with  the  other  members  of  the  building  committee, 
Richard  H.  Smith,  Sr.,  William  H.  Shields  and  Isaac  H.  Smith. 

The  Consecration  Sermon  was  preached  by  the  Rev.  Theodore  D. 
Bratton,  D.  D.,  Rector  of  St.  Mary's  School,  Raleigh,  N.  C,  and 
Bishop-elect  of  the  Diocese  of  Mississippi. 

The  Request  for  Consecration  was  read  by  Mr.  A.  L.  Purrington, 
and  the  Sentence  of  Consecration  by  the  Rev.  Walter  J.  Smith. 

In  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day  an  Historical  Sketch  of  the  Parish 
was  delivered  in  the  Old  Church  by  the  Rev.  Walter  J.  Smith,  Super- 
intendent of  the  Thompson  Orphanage,  Charlotte,  N.  C. 

At  night,  in  the  New  Church,  a  Memorial  Sermon  was  preached  by 
the  Bishop. 


3o 
00 

</> 

IN 


THE  SERMON 


A  N  J  > 


ADDRESSES 


DELIVERED    OX    THE    OCCASION    OE 

THE    CONSECRATION 


OK 


TRINITY  CHURCH 


SCOTLAND  NECK,  N.  C. 


SUNDAY,   JULY    5th,    1003. 


Islam  &  doolev.  printers, 

charlotte,  x.  c. 

1903. 


THE    REV.    THEODORE    D.    BRATTON,    D.    D. 


CONSECRATION  OF  TRINITY  CHURCH, 
SCOTLAND  NECK,  N.  C 


JULY  5th,  J  903,  FOURTH  SUNDAY  AFTER  TRINITY. 


I  Chronicles,   xvii,   1,  2. 

"Now  it  came  to  pass  as  David  sat  in  his  house,  that  David  said  to 
Nathan  the  prophet,  L<j,  I  dwell  in  an  house  of  cedars,  but  the  ark 
of  the  covenant  of  the  Lord  rernaineth  under  curtains.  Then  Nathan 
said  to  David,  Do  all  that  is  in  thine  heart,  for  God  is  with  thee." 

xxi,  22-25. — "Then  David  said  to  Oman,  Grant  me  the  place  of  this 
threshing-floor,  that  I  may  build  an  altar  therein  unto  the  Lord: 
then  shalt  thou  grant  it  unto  me  for  the  full  price:  that  the  plague 
may  be  stayed  from  the  people.  And  Oman  said  unto  David,  Take 
it  to  thee,  and  let  my  lord  the  King"  do  that  which  is  good  in  his  eyes: 
lo,  I  give  thee  oxen  also  for  burnt  offerings,  and  the  threshing  instru- 
ments for  wood,  and  the  wheat  for  the  meat  offering,  I  give  it  all. 
And  King  David  said  to  Oman,  Nay;  but  I  will  verily  buy  it  for  the 
full  price:  for  I  will  not  take  that  which  is  thine  for  the  Lord,  nor 
offer  burnt  offerings  without  cost." 

I  deem  it  a  high  privilege,  my  brethren,  to  be  permitted 
to  speak  to  you  on  this  glad  occasion.  I  count  it  a  real  joy 
to  be  thus  able,  in  congratulating"  our  dear  brother,  and 
you  his  co-workers  upon  this  consummation  of  your  loving 
labors,  to  number  myself  among  those  who  love  to  honor 
the  Lord  God  of  Hosts  in  service  so  acceptable  to  Him,  I 
think  I  can  enter  very  fully  into  the  joy  which  is  yours  at 
this  moment,  when  in  the  name  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  and 
so  near  to  His  feast,  our  Bishop  has  just  consecrated  to  so 
sacred  a  use  this  building  whose  image  has  been  in  your 
hearts  so  long.  Henceforth  it  is  His  House,  called  by  His 
name,  His  will  directing  all  that  }tou  do  here,  so  that  His 
will  may  become  your  good  pleasure— and  His  pleasure  may 
rule  your  wills. 

You  have  buildcd,  beloved,  as  you  were  able — that  is 
true — and  to  many  who  look  only  with  passing  glance  that 
is  all.  But  it  is  not  all,  for  how  much  of  love,  how  much 
of  sacrifice,  how  much  of  true  devotion  is  builded  into  these 
walls,  save  we  your  guests  can  only  faintly  know,  and 
yourselves    have    never    attempted,     perhaps    have    never 


thought,  to  measure.  God,  who  knows  the  heart  and  un- 
derstands the  motive,  and  watches  (as  the  loving-  Father 
must  watch)  each  step  of  the  progress,  each  anxious 
thought  that  seeks  to  promote  His  glory,  God  alone  knows 
the  true  measure  of  this  love  and  sacrifice  and  devotion. 
In  these  words — love,  sacrifice,  devotion — I  have  indicated 
the  thoughts  which  I  deem  it  important  and  useful  to  pre- 
sent to  you  on  a  day  like  this.  They  shall  be  thoughts 
directed  to  man  in  God's  name,  not  thoughts  addressed  to 
God  on  man's  behalf.  Because,  why  do  we  build  churches? 
Is  it  because  God  must  have  them,  or  man  must  have  them? 
"Even  heaven  and  the  heaven  of  heavens  can  not  contain 
Thee,  how  much  less  this  house  which  I  have  built?"  So 
spoke  Solomon  in;  his  wonderful  consecration  prayer.  God 
does  not  need  the  church  buildings.  Everything  is  God's 
— everything  is  present  before  Him.  The  broad  expanse 
of  Heaven  cannot  contain  Him;  the  whole  earth  is  only 
His  footstool.  Every  tree  and  rock  and  shrub  proclaims 
the  living  God.  Every  human  heart  (except  it  be  repro- 
bate) is  His  Temple.  Everywhere  He  may  bs  worshipped 
and  adored,  as  he  must  be,  in  churches  if  in  deed  and  in 
truth,  so  everywhere  in  spirit;  for  God  is  a  spirit  as  He 
himself  declared  in  days  when  sacrifices  were  offered  on 
burning  altars,  and  the  smoke  of  the  burning  victims  fig- 
ured the  ascending  prayers  of  the  worshippers.  But  man 
—it  is  different  with  man.  He  needs  the  Church.  He  needs 
it,  because  being  what  he  is,  the  outward,  the  material,  is 
just  half  of  his  being  and  his  life  and  his  operations.  He 
needs  it  because  it  is  only  through  the  outward  and  material 
that  he  is  able  to  express  the  inward  and  spiritual;  only 
through  his  gifts  that  he  is  able  to  express  his  love;  only 
through  his  service  that  he  is  able  to  express  his  devotion; 
only  through  the  acts  of  his  bodily  members  that  he  is  able 
to  express  the  convictions,  the  desires  and  the  aspirations 
of  his  heart  and  will.  He  needs  the  church  building  be- 
cause it  is  only  through  it  that  he  is  best  able  to  express 
the  honor  which  fills  his  soul  for  the  living  God,  and  be- 
cause it  is  only  through  the  church  that  the  spirit  of  honor 
and  love  and  devotion  is  kept  alive  in  his  heart,  and  kinlded 
and  rekindled,  and  kindled  again,  when  the    embers  of  its 


si „ 


TKINITY  CHURCH. 


divine  fire  burn  low  in  the  neglected  candlestick. 

Yes,  beloved,  man  needs  the  Church.  And  therefore,  I 
say,  the  thoughts  which  the  preacher  on  an  occasion  like 
this  is  called  upon  to  express,  must  be  directed  to  his  fel- 
lows in  God's  name.  What  then  meaneth  this  sacred  serv- 
ice in  which  we  are  interested,  in  which  we  are  chief  par- 
ticipants? I  answer,  first  of  all,  in  one  word — love — love 
for  God,  for  we  build  to  His  honor;  love  for  man,  for  we 
build  for  his  sake,  for  his  advancement  in  those  sacred 
things  that  make  for  righteousness. 

Long-  yaars  ago,  according  to  the  chronology  of  the  Holy 
Bible,  just  2,948  years  ago,  there  sat  in  the  "city  of  David, 'r 
which  he  had  founded,  the  greatest  of  Israel's  kings — a 
king  who,  if  we  may  judge  him  by  his  poems  and  by  his 
works,  loved  the  Lord  Jehovah  with  an  intensity  of  fervor 
which  we  may  well  desire  to  equal.  Years  of  war  and  tur- 
moil and  secret  treason  and  national  iniquity,  not  unmixed 
with  personal  sin,  attended  by  wonderful  providences  and 
loving  kindnesses  of  God,  had  rolled  over  his  whited  head. 
The  latest,  the  supremest  act  of  blessing  had  just  been 
completed  in  the  removal  of  the  sacred  ark  of  the  covenant 
from  its  temporary  resting  place  in  the  house  of  Obed-Edom 
to  the  Mt.  of  the  Lord  in  the  Holy  City.  The  people  had 
departed  every  man  to  his  house  after  the  impressive  cere- 
monies, "and  David  had  returned  to  bless  his  house."  It 
was  a  day  of  singular  joy,  of  deep  gratitude — such  a  day  as 
must  have  written  great  volumes  in  the  book  of  such  a  life 
as  David's — so  full  as  that  life  was  of  child-like  faith,  of 
living  devotion  to  the  God  of  Israel.  The  book  of  the 
Chronicles  simply  and  briefly  records  the  sequel  of  that 
blessed  da)r's  blessings.  Now  it  came  to  pass  as  David  sat 
in  his  house,  that  David  said  to  Nathan  the  prophet,  "Lo, 
I  dwell  in  an  house  of  cedars,  but  the  ark  of  the  covenant 
of  the  Lord  remaineth  under  curtains."  Here  then  is  the 
first  of  those  motives  which  must  set  us  to  work  to  honor 
God  by  our  labors  of  love — and  the  motive  which  set  David 
to  work  in  his  preparation  for  that  temple  which  as  the 
sacrifices  offered  therein  were  the  types  and  figures  of  the 
One  only  offering  is  itself  the  t}Tpe  of  the  Church  which 
should    stand  for  Christ's   body   on    earth.     The  scene  in 


King-  David's  house  is  only  hinted  at,  but  it  is  easily  imag- 
ined, and  it  is  a  beautiful  picture.  Seated  there  arc  the 
King-  and  the  Prophet,  wrapt  (it  must  have  been  so;  in 
deepest  thought,  occupied  with  deepest  converse.  They 
are  thinking,  as  the  events  of  the  day  led  them,  of  the 
great  mercies  of  God  to  his  people  since  the  day  when  the 
glory  of  the  Lord  led  them  forth  from  the  land  of  captivity, 
through  the  Red  Sea,  protecting  them  as  a  cloud  by  day, 
and  guarding  them  as  a  pillar  of  fire  by  night,  they  are 
thinking  of  this  sleepless  guardianship  throughout  the 
wear}7-  years  in  the  wilderness,  and  how  the  same  presence 
and  power  had  gained  for  them  the  promised  Canaan — all 
stretches  out  before  them  from  the  days  in  Egypt  down  to 
the  very  day  when  peace  is  reigning  in  Israel,  and  the 
Shekinah  of  God  is  resting  upon  the  Holy  Hill  in  the  midst 
of  the  Holy  City,  blessing  the  chosen  people,  with  the  pres- 
ence of  the  God  of  Abraham,  and  of  Isaac  and  of  Jacob. 
They  are  thinking  thus  of  the  many  deliverances  from  evil, 
a}"e  even  from  utter  destruction,  which  God  had  vouch- 
safed them,  and  thinking  thus,  the  heart  of  the  King  is 
filled  full  with  gratitude,  and  at  that  moment  he  learns,  as 
he  had  never  known  before,  what  it  is  to  love  God,  because 
He — the  great,  the  merciful,  the  long  suffering  the  benefi- 
cent God,  hath  first  loved  him. 

Beloved,  this  scene  is  a  parable  of  that  which  we  are  en- 
acting here,  in  this  henceforth  hallowed  house.  Since 
King  David's  day,  the  generations  of  men  have,  each  one 
of  them,  looked  back  upon  the  days  whereof  the  Fathers 
have  told  them,  and  looked  out  upon  the  loving  providences 
of  God,  so  abundantly  evident  all  around  them,  and  they 
too  have  loved  and  have  expressed  their  love  in  this  most 
blessed  of  all  institutions.  And  here  to-day,  if  a  voice 
from  the  angels  above  should  come  kown  to  us  asking, 
'What  meaneth  this  service?"  We  should  answer  in  sim- 
plest reverence,  "Because  we  love  our  God,  because  we  have 
received  of  His  bounty,  because  we  would  honor  His  name, 
because  we  love  to  proclaim  Him  in  songs  and  prayers  and 
deeds,  and  in  offerings  of  wood  and  stone;  because  we  love 
mankind,  our  fellows,  one  with  us  in  Christ  the  Lord;  be- 
cause we  wo n Id  bid  them  taste  and  see  how  gracious  the 


8 

Lord  is;  because  we  would  do  our  part  as  God  has  given  us 
strength  to  do  it,  in  training-  up  the  generations  committed 
to  us,  and  that  are  to  follow  our  own,  in  the  ways  of  God 
and  in  the  paths  of  heavenly  peace." 

And  so,  my  dear  brethren,  laid  down  beneath  the  corner 
stone,  and  builded  strongly,  everlastingly  into  these  walls, 
is  the  love  that  never  faileth.  All  things  else  msy  fade 
away,  these  walls  may  crumble  into  dust,  but  the  love  that 
has  reared  them  has  been  consecrated  with  its  work,  and 
ever  abideth  to  rear  another  and  another  when  the  decay 
of  time  shall  have  eaten  awa3T  the  perishable.  And  then 
next  there  is  that  other  element  which  proves  the  love 
which  tests  it  if  it  be  true — -this  must  be  there  too.  There 
must  be  sacrifice.  My  brethren,  we  never  really  know  the 
true  strength  of  our  love  for  person  or  thing  until  we  are 
called  upon  to  sacrifice  something  in  its  behalf.  You  need 
not  to  be  reminded  of  this,  in  this  fine  old  community 
which  has  tested,  as  few  communities  in  the  State  have 
done,  the  power  of  sacrifice  to  search  our  hearts  and  try  our 
love.  I  feel  that  you  can  teach  your  preacher  another  les- 
son, which  would  enlarge  his  own  experience. 

Once  again  let  us  return  to  the  King,  and  to  his  (for  our 
present  purpose)  parabolic  life.  Shortly  after  the  events 
in  David's  house,  which  we  have  reviewed,  when  he  was 
planning,  no  doubt,  for  the  erection  of  the  temple,  there 
comes  an  intimation  to  him  from  a  prophet  of  a  proper  site 
for  the  Lord's  house.  It  was  at  the  threshing-floor  of 
Oman  the  Jebusite,  upon  which  commanding  eminence  the 
great  temple  was  afterwards  built.  The  Book  of  the 
Chronicles  gives  the  simple  narrative. 

David  sets  forth  upon  his  sacred  mission  to  buy  from 
Oman  the  desired  site  for  the  Lord's  House.  Oman,  see- 
ing the  King  approach,  goes  forth  to  meet  him  and  pros- 
trates himself  (after  the  Eastern  custom)  before  the  royal 
head  of  Israel;  and  when  the  King  has  disclosed  the  pur- 
pose of  his  visit,  there  follows  a  generous  rivalry  between 
the  King  and  his  subject.  Oman,  anxious  to  place  the 
valuable  property  at  the  King's  disposal  without  any 
money  equivalent,  and  David,  resolute  in  his  determination 
that  his  offering  to  God  should  not  be  that  which  cost  him 


nothing-,  "And  David  said  to  Oman,  Nay;  but  I  will 
verily  buy  it  for  the  full  price;  for  I  will  not  take  that 
which  is  thine  for  the  Lord,  nor  offer  burnt  offering-  with- 
out cost.'' 

Here,  beloved,  is  the  spirit  which  makes  "our  devotional 
buildings  really  acceptable  offerings  to  God — the  spirit 
which  offers  to  God  precious  things,  because  they  are 
precious.  It  is  the  spirit  which  will  not  dishonor  God  by 
offering  Him  what  we  do  not  want  ourselves,  but  which 
seeks  to  honor  Him  by  offering  the  best,  the  costliest,  the 
most  precious  to  ourselves,  to  his  service.  It  is  the  same 
spirit  which  in  a  loving  husband  seeks  to  give  to  the  wife 
the  best  he  can  honestlv  afford.  It  is  the  same  spirit  which 
in  the- lover  is  anxious  to  adorn  the  bride  with  the  costliest 
of  gems;  not  because  the  bride  needs  them,  but  because  the 
'gems 'are  costly,  and  love  is  valuable  beyond  all  price. 
Nay,  beloved,  to  rise  to  an  infinitely  higher  figure,  it  is  the 
same  spirit  which  constrained  the  Great  Father  above  to 
give  His  only  begotten  Son  for  us,  not  because  he  could  not 
save  us  besides,  but  because  the  Father's  love  is  priceless, 
and  no  other  could  express  it  save  the  Son.  So  here,  belov- 
ed, you  have  offered  to  God  this  beautiful  Church,  simple 
in  design  and  in  every  detail,  as  became  the  purses  of  those 
who  conceived  it;  you  have  offered  it  as  the  very  best  gift 
your  love  could  command  with  the  means  which  your  sac- 
rifice has  consecrated. 

Beloved,  let  us  take  a  lesson.  We,  you,  and  I,  who  gather 
here  to  share  our  brethren's  joy,  and  you  too,  beloved,  who 
grant  to  us  this  generous  share  in  what  is  so  peculiarly 
your  own. — let  us  take  a  lesson — what  we  do  for  God  let  us 
do  in  love,  let  us  be  sure  it  has  cost  us  something,  let  us, 
in  time  (as  we  develop  under  God's  guidance)  make  it  cost 
us  the  most  precious  price. 

The  great  lecturer,  Mr.  Ruskin,  has  a  wonderful  chapter 
on  what  he  calls  "The  Lamp  of  Sacrifice"  in  architecture. 
Everybody  ought  to  read  it.  It  is  a  great  sermon.  In  the 
connection  in  which  I  am  speaking,  he  has  some  pregnant 
lines  which  I  must  quote,  commending  the  entire  lecture  to 
you.  He  writes,  "It  has  been  said,  it  ought  always  to  be 
said,  for  it  is  true,  that  a  better  and  more  honorable  offer- 


10 

ing  is  made  to  our  Master  in  ministry  to  the  poor,  in  ex- 
tending the  knowledge  of  His  name,  in  the  practice  of 
virtues  by  which  that  name  is  hallowed,  than  in  material 
presents  to  His  Temple.  Assuredly  it  is  so— woe  to  all 
who  think  that  any  other  kind  or  manner  of  offering1  may 
in  any  wise  take  the  place  of  these.  *  *  *  But,  he  con- 
tinues, the  question  is  not  between  God's  house  and  His 
poor,  it  is  not  between  God's  house  and  His  Gospel.  It  is 
between  God's  House  and  ours.  Have  we  no  tesselated 
colors  on  our  floors?  *  *  no  niched  statuar}'  in  our  corri- 
dors, no  gilded  furniture  in  our  chambers,  no  costly  stones 
in  our  cabinets?  Has  even  the  tithe  of  these  been  offered? 
They  are,  or  ought  to  be,  the  signs  that  enough  has  been 
devoted  to  the  great  purposes  of  human  stewardship,  and 
that  there  remains  to  us  what  we  can  spend  in  luxury— 
but  there  is  a  greater  and  prouder  luxury  than  this  selfish 
one,  that  of  bringing  a  position  of  such  things  as  these 
into  the  sacred  service,  and  presenting  them  for  a  memorial, 
that  our  pleasure  as  well  as  our  toil  has  been  hallowed  by 
the  remembrance  of  Him  who  gave  both  the  strength  and 
the  reward.  *  *  It  is  not  the  Church  that  we  want,  but 
the  sacrifice,     *     *     *     not  the  gift,  but  the  giving." 

Brethren,  the  lecturer  spoke  truth,  as  our  experience  tes- 
tifies. If  it  is  love  that  underlies  this  foundation,  it  is 
sacrifice  that  builds  upon  it,  and  builds  enduringly  in  the 
measure  of  its  power.  And  then,  there  is  the  crowning 
feature  of  every  work  for  God— Devotion — -that  which  con- 
secrates it  and  makes  it  sacred  and  keeps  it  so.  It  is  a 
strong  word,  and  I  would  use  it  in  the  strongest  possible 
sense.  "This  one  thing  I  do"  is  often  qnoted  as  the  most 
fit  motto  of  St.  Paul's  life.  Nobody  ever  mistook  the  pur- 
pose of  that  great  man's  life.  No  one  could  ever  feel  that 
St.  Paul  was  ever  for  a  moment  in  doubt  as  to  his  own  pur- 
pose. He  was  absolutely  devoted,  set  apart,  consecrated, 
to  the  one  purpose.  That  illustrates  what  devotion  means. 
And  this  I  know  is  the  chief  feature  in  the  work  for  this 
Church  which  is  consecrated  to-day. 

Devotion  such  as  God  can  recognize  must  have  begun  in 
love,  and  been  continued  in  sacrifice — and  whan  it  so  be- 
gins and  continues,  it  sanctifies  the  work.     It  is  the  spirit 


INTERIOR    VIEW    OF    NEW    CHURCH. 


12 

which  sets  about  its  work  with  so  sacred  a  sense  of  its  holy 
purpose,  that  everything-  that  falls  under  its  charge  be- 
comes immediately  holy.  It  can  take  the  poorest  material 
(provided  it  be  the  best  that  sacrifice  could  offer)  hand- 
rived  planks,  unsightly  perhaps  to  those  who  can  command 
better,  and  because  it  is  the  best  material  that  can  be  had, 
because  it  is  devoted  to  God's  service,  it  can  build  a  holy 
house,  beautiful  in  its  eyes,  and  as  I  believe,  lovely  to  per- 
fect charity  above,  acceptable  to  Perfect  Love. 

And  too,  devotion  in  }^et  another  but  a  kindred  sense,  that 
that  which  is  builded  is  really  devoted  to  God  and  His 
Hoty  Worship.  This  it  is  that  sanctifies  the  building  in 
our  eyes — that  sets  it  apart,  that  builds  it  indeed  unlike 
any  other  building,  that  it  may  stand  forth  as  an  unmis- 
takable monument  to  the  glory  and  the  worship  of 
Almighty  God.  No  one  ever  mistook  the  Temple,  for 
which  David  prepared,  for  a  palace  or  a  barn.  It  was  de- 
voted to  God  in  its  very  inception,  and  this  devotion  ex- 
pressed itself  in  every  detail  of  pointed  roof  and  towers 
reaching  up  to  God, — of  gold  and  silver  and  brass  orna- 
ments, and  services  and  altars  which  should  speak  for  men 
to  God,  and  from  God  to  men. 

So  in  this  sense,  devotion  is  the  sanctifying  motive  of 
every  brick  here  laid,  of  every  truss  raised,  of  every  ap- 
pointment provided.  Whatever  else  people  may  say  of  it, 
it  stands  here  upon  this  sacred  spot  to  testify  to  all  who 
see  it  that  God  is  loved,  that  God  is  worshipped,  that  God 
is  adored. 

Brethren,  beloved,  these  three  ingredients,  (if  I  may  so 
say)  love,  sacrifice,  devotion,  must  enter  into  every  work 
of  man,  if  that  work  is  to  be  enduring,  and  if  it  is  to  be 
acceptable  to  God — whether  it  be  the  building  of  churches, 
or  the  building  of  that  most  beautiful  of  all  temples,  with 
which,  no  stone  or  brick  or  wood  can  be  compared,  the 
human  character. 

The  lesson  of  our  service  this  morning  will  be  fully  re- 
ceived only  when  we  have  applied  it  as  a  parable  to  our 
own  houses  not  built  with  hands,  whose  corner  stone,  the 
same  for  each  one  of  us,  is  Jesus  Christ  the  Lord,  the  true 
and  tried  Rock  of  Ages,   which   laid  firmly   at   the   chief 


13 

angle  of  our  buildings,  shall  keep  them  anchored,  firm  and 
strong-,  and  enduring-  every  blast  unto  the  end 

"Except  the  Lord  build  the  house  their  labor  is  but  lost 
that  build  it."  No  work  can  prosper  without  Him,  no  de- 
sign miscarry  under  His  favor  and  protection.  The  labors 
of  man  —  the  blessing  of  God,  what  a  sweet,  what  a  holy, 
what  a  divine  partnership  is  here.  What  a  blessed  privi- 
lege to  be  thus  associated  with  the  Heavenly  Father.  And 
how  close  and  intimate  has  been  this  association;  how  de- 
pendent we  have  been  upon  the  Divine  Partnership,  in  the 
work  of  building  the  house  of  our  human  character. 

Looking  back  upon  our  lives,  we  can  scarcely  trace  out 
anything  that  we  have  done  to  make  us  what  we  are.  Each 
step,  each  decision  at  a  turning  point,  each  separate  act, 
has  seemed  my  very  own,  willed  by  me  myself,  executed  by 
myself, — and  yet  when  all  these  acts  and  decisions  are  now 
surveyed  in  retrospect  and  summed  up  in  their  present  re- 
sult, it  is  not  I  who  was  chief  actor,  but  God  who  wisely 
ruled  my  will,  who  graciously  determined  my  decisions, 
who  watchfully  directed  each  step.  There  was  a  time  when 
I  had  pictured  a  totally  different  purpose  of  my  life, — when 
I  thought  to  map  out  my  whole  life  according  to  my  own 
design; — there  has  been  no  great  break,  no  startling 
change  perhaps,  nothing  that  might  not,  at  the  time,  have 
been  explained  upon  the  most  natural  of  grounds — and  yet, 
the  life  that  has  been  lived  has  scarcely  a  faint  resemblance 
to  that  which  was  preconceived. 

The  Lord  built  the  house.  He  used  me  as  the  intelli- 
gent laborer,  but  He  used  me,  though  I  seemed  to  be  build- 
ing. This  is  the  histor}7  of  ever}7  life  which  has  honestly 
sought  God's  will.  Is  not  this  the  history  of  your  life,  my 
brother?  Then  how  practically  true  is  this  parable  of  the 
consecrated  house,  which  is  the  type  of  our  own  buildings. 

The  principle  (not  merely  the  sentiment)  of  love  enters 
in  to  set  our  lives  in  channels  new  to  the  natural  will.  It 
interprets  our  own  selves  and  our  own  lives  in  directing  us 
to  Christ's  self  and  Christ's  life.  It  fashions  us,  this  pure 
principle  of  love  does,  after  a  new  model  by  bringing  into 
our  lives  the  Divine  Object  of  love.  Henceforth  life  can 
not  be  what  it  was  before  this  love  entered  in  as  a  principle, 


14 

as  the  first  and  chief  principle  of  life.  Gur  thoughts,  our 
acts  can  not  any  longer  be  the  results  of  whims  and  desires, 
—the  love  of  God  constraineth  us,  and  thoughts  and  acts 
are  what  they  are,  because  love  is  thus  building-  up  in  us 
new  sources  of  inspiration  and  of  power. 

Sacrifice,  the  veriest  crucifixion  to  the  old  self,  becomes 
the  welcome  expression  of  love,  which  can  not  be  love  when 
it  seeks  its  own — which  has  no  life  but  in  the  object  of  its 
devotion.  Bnd  so,  beloved,  just  as  it  is  love  that  sets  us 
the  task  of  honoring-  God  by  building  for  others,  so  it  is 
love  that  builds  the  spiritual  house  of  character  by  inhab- 
iting the  heart  with  a  Divine  image.  Just  as  it  is  sacrifice 
which  impels  to  costly  gifts  in  building  that  which  is  to 
be  consecrated  to  God;  so  it  is  sacrifice  which  will  build 
the  spiritual  house  of  character  at  no  less  a  cost  than  that 
which  all  selfish  will,  which  all  fleshly  lust,  which  all 
worldly  desire,  represent. 

Just  as  it  is  the  spirit  of  devotion  which  sets  apart  and 
dedicates  its  costliest  gifts  of  wood  and  stone  to  the  glory 
and  honor  of  God,  and  to  His  alone,  so  it  is  this  same 
spirit  of  devotion  which  offers  and  presents  unto  God  the 
whole  self,  the  soul  and  body,  to  be  a  reasonable,  holy,  and 
living  sacrifice  unto  Him.  And  so,  as  I  conceive  it,  our 
consecration  of  this  Lord's  house  to-day,  can  not  be  disso- 
ciated from  the  consecration  of  ourselves. 

We  offer  all,  beloved,  to  God's  service,  and  pray  His 
gracious  acceptance.  For  as  the  church  building  is  nothing 
apart  from  the  sacred  uses  to  which  it  is  put,  so  these 
sacred  uses  are  impossible  apart  from  the  consecrated  lives- 
which  as  God's  instruments  are  to  give  to  the  uses  their 
effective  value. 

The  consecrated  chnrch  represents  the  focus  of  the  con- 
secrated desires  of  its  members,  the  centre  of  their  conse- 
crated love,  the  earnest  of  their  sacrifices,  the  warrant  of 
their  devotion.  And  so  we  offer  ourselves  anew,  that  God 
may  renew  us  again  with  the  spirit  of  His  power, — and  in 
blessing  this  house  which  is  offered  to  Him,  may  fill  us 
too  with  His  loving  presence,  and  sanctifying  our  hearts 
with  pure  divine  love,  and  strengthening  us  for  acceptable 
sacrifice,  and  deepening  in  us  true  devotion — God's  conse- 


15 

cration  has  been  powerful  in  making  us  what  we  are.  We 
can  not  be  satisfied  until  we  have  so  devoted  ourselves  to 
God,  that  His  consecration  of  us  shall  make  us  love  only 
what  He  hath  commanded,  and  desire  only  that  which  He 
hath  promised. 

Our  experience  is  that  as  more  and  more  we  become  de- 
voted to  God's  service,  in  the  same  measure  do  we  love  His 
commands  and  desire  His  promises.  St.  Paul's  experience 
is  our  own.  What  once  was  great  gain  to  us,  becomes  but 
dross  in  view  of  the  higher,  holier  life  which  God  has  con- 
secrated as  His  own. 

Yes,  my  beloved,  a  day  like  this  is  a  da}T  of  renewed  and 
revived  consecration  of  self.      "The  Lord  is  in    His  Hol}T 
Temple."     The  Bishop  has  besought  His  presence  here- 
in this  house — in  our  hearts.    The  Lord  we  know  is  here — 
The  Lord,  beloved,  is  in  His  Holy  Temple. 


,   THE   REV.    WALTER   J.   SMITH,    B.    D. 


An  Historical  Sketch  of  Trinity  Parish. 


BY  THE  REV.  WALTER  J.  SMITH,  B.  D. 

As  I  am  not  expected  to  preach  a  sermon  this  afternoon, 
but  simply  to  g"ive  you  a  brief  historical  sketch  of  this 
parish  from  its  beginning-  to  the  present  time,  I  shall  not 
take  a  text  from  the  Holy  Scriptures,  but  by  way  of  intro- 
duction to  what  I  wish  to  say,  I  will  quote  those  familiar 
lines  of  the  poet  who  says — 

"Breathes  there  a  man  with  soul  so  dead, 
Who  never  to  himself  hath  said, 
This  is  my  own,  my  native  land  !" 

I  truly  hope  with  all  my  heart  that  my  own  soul  will 
never  become  so  dead  as  to  cause  me  to  forget  that  this  is 
"my  own,  mi)  native  land,"  and  this  fact — the  fact  that 
within  half  a  mile  of  this  sacred  spot  my  eyes  first  saw  the 
light  is  the  apology  for  my  standing  before  you  to-day. 

It  was  here  that  I  spent  my  happy  childhood  days  in, 
perhaps,  the  most  prosperous  period  of  our  country's  his- 
tory, until  our  peaceful  dreams  were  disturbed  by  the 
thundering  reverberations  that  came  from  the  cannon  at 
Fort  Sumter.  It  was  here,  in  the  two  academies  hard  by 
the  site  of  our  present  Church  in  town,  that  I  spent  most 
of  my  school  days,  preparatory  to  going  off  to  college;  it 
was  in  the  old  Church  near  the  same  site  that  I  was  receiv- 
ed  into  the  Church  by  Holy  Baptism;  it  was  in  this  build- 
ing, where  we  are  now  assembled,  in. its  former  beauty  and 
completeness,  that  my  baptismal  vows  were  ratified  and 
confirmed.  It  was  here,  in  this  same  building,  that  I  as- 
sumed the  first  vows  of  the  sacred  ministry;  it  was  here, 
too,  in  this  parish,  at  a  later  period,  that  I  spent  nearly  ten 
years  of  my  ministerial  life.  Pardon  one  more  personal 
reference,  if  I  state  that  my  first  impressions  of  the  Church 
and  her  services  were  received  in  this  building  which  was 
completed  and  consecrated  just  three  years  after  my  birth. 


19 

Those  impressions  are  as  fresh  to-day  as  ever,  and  can  never 
be  effaced  from  my  mind. 

Well  do  I  remember  my  feelings  of  awe  and  reverence  as 
I  looked  upon  the  beautiful  chancel  windows,  and  listened 
to  the  thrilling"  music  that  came  from  the  choir  and  organ, 
as  I  sat  in  the  subdued  light  of  the  ground-glass  windows, 
and  wondered  at  the  soft  tread  of  the  worshippers  as  they 
came  up  the  richly  carpeted  aisle.  Well  do  I  remember, 
too,  the  heartv  responses  of  the  congregation,  and  the  stir- 
ring and  eloqueut  sermons  of  the  beloved  rector — the  father 
of  our  worthy  and  honored  Bishop.  And  who  among  us 
that  witnessed  it  can  ever  forget  the  hearty  hand-shake 
of  that  remarkable  man  and  rector  as  he  greeted  each  and 
ever}T  one  of  his  flock  at  the  close  of  his  services?  And  who 
that  saw  it  can  ever  foryet  the  number  of  carriages  and 
buggies  and  other  conveyances  that  gathered  outside  the 
church-yard  on  every  Sunday  morning  that  service  was 
held  ? 

Alas!  These  palmy  days  are  gone,  and  doubtless  many 
of  us  who  lived  in  them  feel  that  we  shall  never  see  the 
like  again.  It  is  true  that  times  change,  and  that  we 
change  with  them,  and  in  some  respects,  no  doubt,  these 
times  are  better  than  those  were;  yet  we  can  not  help 
dwelling  upon  the  good  and  the  true  and  the  beautiful  of 
those  by-gone  days,  and  as  we  do  so,  it  gives  us  a  feeling 
of  pleasure  and  satisfaction,  or  as  the  old  Latin  poet  has  it, 
"Haec  olim  meminisse  juvabit." 

With  this  length)-  and  rather  personal  introduction,  I 
will  now  give  you  a  brief  history  of  the  parish  from  its  be- 
ginning to  the  present  time,  and  in  so  doing  I  shall  take  my 
facts  for  the  most  part  from  the  history  of  the  parish  by 
the  Hon,  Richard  H.  Smith,  late  Senior  Warden,  who 
served  the  Church  so  long  and  so  well,  not  only  in  his  own 
parish  and  diocese,  but  also  as  deputy  to  the  General  Con- 
ventions. (I  may  remark  in  passing  that  most  of  these 
facts  were  given  in  a  sermon  which  I  preached  on  the  sixth 
anniversary  of  my  rectorship  of  the  parish.)  Mr.  Smith 
very  truly  says  that  "the  history  of  Trinity  Church,  Scot- 
land Neck,  is  similar  to  that  of  many  of  our  Southern  coun- 
try parishes,"    and  shonld  we  examine    into  the   historv  of 


20 

£hose  parishes,  we  would  find  that  many  of  them  had  to 
struggle  on  in  infancy  against  much  prejudice  and  misrep- 
resentation, being-  barelyQat  times  able  to  keep  together 
their  organization. 

It  is  a  generally  conceded  fact  that  this  branch  of  God's 
Church  prospered  greatly  in  the  colonies  prior  to  the  war 
of  the  Revolution,  but  that  at  the  close  of  that  war  it  was- 
shunned  by  many  on  account  of  its  supposed  sympathy  with 
the  Crown  of  Kngland — a  very  unjust  supposition,  as  sub- 
sequent history  amply  proved.  That  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land had  established  itself  in  this  community  during  colo- 
nial times  is  abundantly  proved  by  the  testimony  of  some 
of  the  old  inhabitants,  lately  gone  to  rest,  as  well  as  by 
the  ruins  of  a  chapel  which  stood  four  miles  east  of  this 
place.  The  well  worn  path  leading  to  this  chapel  would 
seem  to  indicate  that  it  was  frequented  by  numerous  wor- 
shippers, some  of  whom  having  been  baptized  there  in  in- 
fancy, afterwards  took  part  in  organizing  the  first  congre- 
gation of  this  parish  Some  of  the  brick  from  the  ruins  of 
this  old  building  have  been  secured  for  the  purpose  of  being 
placed  in  the  corner  stone  of  the  new  church. 

With  no  pastor  to  look  after  them,  the  old  colonial  con- 
gregation dwindled  away  to  a  mere  handfull,  and  for  many 
years  the  services  of  the  Church  were  almost  unheard  of  in 
this  section  of  the  country. 

An  occasional  service  is  said  to  have  been  given  by  Bishop 
Ravenscroft  and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Norment,  the  latter  preach- 
ing at  Vine  Hill  Academy.  "In  November  1831,  the  Rev. 
Joseph  H.  Saunders  and  the  Rev.  William  Norwood  com- 
menced officiating  to  a  small  congregation  in  the  neigh- 
borhood, each  once  a  month  on  Fridays.  These  services 
continued  until  December,  1832,  on  the  first  Sunday  of 
which  month  the  Rev.  William  Norwood  commenced  regu- 
lar services  on  two  Sundays  in  every  month,  and  continued 
his  ministrations  until  March,  1834.  It  was  during  his 
ministrations  that  the  congregation  was  regularly  organ- 
ized, and  subscriptions  made  for  building  a  Church." 

On  the  28th  of  April,  1833,  a  neat  wooden  building,  which 
stood  near  the  present  site  of  Vine  Hill  Female  Academy, 
was  consecrated  by  Bishop  Ives  in  the  second  year  of  his 


ft 


■Hi  ' 

fig    -.    --ays 


ISII 


i  .'■■■••>■  .«?  ■ ' « - 


f . ,,.  .„■ ,«, 
-*     - 


THE    OLD    CHURCH. 


21 

Episcopate.  In  April,  1834  the  Rev.  John  Singletary  took 
charge  of  the  parish,  and  officiated  two  Sundays  in  each 
month. 

In  February,  1838,  the  Rev.  John  Morgan  begun  to  min- 
ister to  the  congregation,  but  discontinued  his  services  the 
following  spring. 

"In  the  year  1841,  on  February  the  5th,"  Mr.  Smith 
says  that  "God  put  it  into  the  hearts  of  our  people  to  call 
to  the  rectorship  the  Rev.  Joseph  Blount  Cheshire,  a  young 
man  full  of  missionary  zeal  and  energy,  and  above  all,  en- 
dowed with  the  true  Christian  spirit.  For  twenty-eight 
years  he  officiated  two  Sundays  in  each  month,  laboring 
"in  season,  out  of  season,"  until  disease  broke  down  his 
constitution;  and  his  medical  advisers  recommended  rest  as 
the  only  means  of  saving  his  life."  In  the  year  1861,  the 
Rev.  Angelo  A.  Benton  became  his  assistant,  and  took 
charge  of  a  colored  congregation  in  connection  with  his 
other  work  in  the  parish.  Under  the  inspiration  and 
g-uidance  of  their  beloved  pastor,  the  three  brethren,  Wil- 
liam Ruffin,  Richard  Henry,  and  James  Norfleet  Smith, 
with  some  assistance  from  a  few  other  persons,  erected  a 
handsome  brick  building  just  a  mile  north  of  the  present 
town  of  Scotland  Neck.  The  building  was  beautiful  in  its 
proportions,  and  complete  in  all  of  its  appointments.  For 
nearly  thirty  years  its  sweet  toned  pipe  organ  assisted  the 
worshippers  in  their  regular  devotions,  while  as  occasion 
arose  it  would  lead  a  happy  bride  to  the  altar  with  the  in- 
spiring notes  of  the  wedding  march;  and  then  again,  its 
subdued  and  mournful  tones  would  thrill  with  emotion  the 
sad  hearts  of  those  who  followed  some  loved  one  to  his  last 
resting  place. 

On  the  27th  day  of  May,  1855,  it  being  Whitsun-Day, 
this  Church  was  consecrated  under  the  name  of  "Trinity" 
by  the  Rt.  Rev.  Thomas  Atkinson,  Bishop  of  the  Diocese, 
in  the  second  year  of  his  Episcopate. 

In  September,  1860,  much  to  the  regret  and  sorrow  of  the 
congregation,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Cheshire  resigned  the  charge 
of  the  parish.  During  his  ministrations  the  number  of 
communicants  increased  tenfold,  and  a  brick  church  was 
built,  with  ample  and  beautiful  burying  grounds  surround- 


22 

ing  it,  laid  off  and  adorned  with  shrubs  and  flowers  by  the 
devoted  rector's  own  hands.  In  his  letter  of  resignation, 
Dr.  Cheshire  stated  that  the  only  unpleasant  thing-  that 
occurred  between  him  and  his  people  throughout  his  long 
rectorship  was  the  fact  of  his  resigning,  and  the  congrega- 
tion truly  felt  that  his  place  could  not  be  filled'.  To  quote 
his  own  words,  he  says:  "After  a  ministry  among  you  of 
28-years,  I  can  truly  say  that  this  is  the  only  unpleasant- 
ness that  has  ever  occurred  to  disturb  the  harmony  that 
has  ever  existed  in  our  intercourse  as  minister  and  people. 
You  have  always  yielded  me  the  greatest  respect  and  con- 
sideration, both  as  a  man  and  as  your  minister,  and  have 
received  my  teaching,  however  imperfect,  as  the  instruc- 
tions of  heaven  for  your  salvation." 

[It  is  interesting  to  note  that  his  faithful  old  sexton, 
"Ben,"  who  taught  the  colored  children  in  this  Church  in 
the  afternoons,  is  still  a  member  of  the  parish,  and  was 
present  in  his  place  at  the  consecration  services  this 
morning.] 

After  repeated  efforts,  and  after  three  years  of  patient 
waiting,  a  good  and  faithful  man  was  found  to  take  Dr. 
Cheshire's  place.  The  Rev.  William  S.  Pettigrew,  the 
Rev.  F.  J.  Murdoch,  and  the  Rev.  J.  J.  Norwood  having 
been  successively  called,  and  all  three  having  declined,  the 
last  named  clergyman  reconsidered  the  matter;  and  accepted 
charge  of  the  parish  October  1st,  1872. 

During  the  vacancy  in  the  rectorship,  regular  lay  ser- 
vices were  maintained  by  Mr.  Richard  M.  Smith,  Sr.,  and, 
to  the  credit  of  the  congregation  be  it  said,  the  attendance 
was  almost  as  good  as  when  a  clergyman  officiated. 

As  a  resident  minister,  young  and  zealous  in  the  cause  of 
his  Master,  with  no  family  to  look  after,  Mr.  Norwood 
thoroughly  organized  the  work  of  the  parish,  and  gave  an 
impulse  to  its  life  which  it  continues  to  feel  to  this  day. 
After  two  years  of  active  and  efficient  service,  he  resigned 
his  charge  and  moved  away.  The  vestry  then  made  the 
fatal  mistake  of  calling  a  clergyman  who  was  not  only  well 
advanced  in  3'ears,  but  who  lived  thirty  miles  distant,  and 
was,  moreover,  to  give  only  two  services  a  month.  No 
one,  surely,  will  for  a  moment  question  the  piety,  zeal  and 


23 

deep  learning-  of  the  late  Dr.  Aristides  S.  Smith,  and  yet 
from  the  very  circumstances  of  his  position,  the  parish  lost 
ground  which  it  has  never  since  recovered. 

Dr.  Smith  became  rector  of  the  parish  on  March  1,  1875, 
the  letter  of  invitation  from  the  vestry  having  been  borne 
to  him  by  my  own  hands.  From  that  time  till  the  da}-  of 
his  death,  I  regarded  him  almost  as  a  father,  and  I  shall 
always  feel  that  it  was  a  great  privilege  to  have  been  so 
intimately  associated  with  such  a  pure-minded,  godly  and 
learned  man.  After  Jan  nary  24,  1878,  he  gave  the  parish 
only  one  Sunday  a  month  until  January  1,  1881,  at  which 
time,  I  presume,  he  resigned  the  rectorship.  He  gave  after 
that  occasional  services  until  October  1st,  when  the  Rev. 
Horace  G.  Hilton,  an  earnest,  devoted  man,  took  charge  of 
the  parish.  It  was  during  his  rectorship,  March  27,  1884, 
that  the  parish  church,  with  all  of  its  contents,  including 
the  parish  register,  was  destroyed  by  fire.  Steps  were  im- 
mediately taken  towards  building  a  new  church,  but  before 
it  was  completed  the  old  church  was  restored  sufficiently  to 
be  used  for  services,  through  the  Christian  liberality  of  a 
former  parishoner,  Mrs.  Martha  Clark,  of  Baltimore.  The 
resignation  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Hilton,  to  take  effect  October 
1,  1885,  having  been  accepted,  the  Rev.  Herbert  W.  Robin- 
son, of  Ontario,  Canada,  was  called  in  January  of  the  fol- 
lowing }'ear  to  take  charge  of  the  parish.  It  was  during 
his  rectorship,  April  14,  1886,  that  the  new  church  was 
opened  for  the  first  time  for  divine  service;  and  on  Christ- 
mas day  of  the  same  year  he  introduced  a  vested  choir  of 
men  and  boys.  Under  his  direction  the  music  of  the  choir 
was  much  improved. 

Mr.  Robinson  resigned  the  rectorship  on  March  1.  1888. 
and  on  June  19th  a  call  was  extended  to  the  Rev.  Walter  J. 
Smith,  at  that  time  in  charge  of  St.  Mary's  Mission,  Edge- 
come  County,  and  St.  Martin's  farish,  Hamilton.  The 
call  was  accepted,  and  my  first  service  as  rector  was  held 
on  the  first  Sunday  of  the  following  month.  For  the  first 
six  months  after  my  election,  I  continued  to  reside  in  Edge- 
come  County,  and  gave  the  parish  only  one  Sunday  a 
month.  In  January  1889,  however,  I  moved  with  my  fam- 
ily into  the  rectory,  and  devoted  all  of  my  time  to  the  work 


24 

of  the  parish,  with  the  exception  of  one  Sunday  given  to 
Hamilton,  and  another,  temporarily,  to  St.  Mary's.  After 
a  time  both  of  these  points  were  given  up,  and  one  Sunday 
a  month  was  devoted  to  St.  Mark's  Church,  Halifax. 

In  June,  1898,  I  was  elected  Superintendent  of  the 
Thompson  Orphanage  and  Training  Institution,  at  Char- 
lotte, and  feeling  it  to  be  my  duty  to  accept  the  position,  I 
very  reluctantly  moved  my  family  to  that  city  and  assumed 
charge  of  the  work. 

As  it  was  a  new  and  untried  work,  and  the  issue  uncer- 
tain, the  vestry  of  the  parish  kindly  granted  me  a  leave  of 
absence  for  one  year,  with  the  privilege  of  returning  and 
assuming  charge  as  rector  before  the  expiration  of  that 
time.  At  my  suggestion,  the  Rev.  Girard  W.  Phelps,  then 
residing  at  Littleton  as  missionar}^,  and  also  Evangelist  of 
the  Convocation  of  Tarboro,  was  requested  to  supply  the 
vacancy  caused  by  my  removal. 

At  the  expiration  of  the  year,  I  having  decided  to  remain 
at  the  Orphanage,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Phelps  was  elected  rector, 
and  has  remained  in  charge  of  the  parish  to  the  present 
time.  For  some  time  after  moving  to  Scotland  Neck,  he 
continued  in  charge  of  the  Missions  of  St  Mary's  and  Grace 
Memorial  Church,  Edgecombe  County,  but  afterwards  con- 
fined his  labors  to  the  parish  proper,  with  its  two  Missions 
at  Tillery  and  Spring  Hill,  together  with  occasional  visits 
to  the  State  convict  farm  near  Tillery,  where  his  efforts  in 
that  most  difficult  work  have  been  blessed  with  visible  and 
most  gratifying  results. 

This  hurried  sketch  brings  the  history  of  the  parish 
down  to  the  present  time,  and  if  you  will  bear  with  me  I 
will  add  a  few  statistics  of  the  work  under  the  present  and 
former  rector;  but  in  doing  so  I  am  reminded  that  this  is 
an  age  of  statistics,  and  that  we  must  be  warned  against 
the  danger  of  laying  too  great  a  stress  upon  mere  numbers. 
I  am  reminded,  too,  that  on  one  occasion  God  rebuked  David 
for  numbering  the  children  of  Israel,  and  as  a  punishment 
for  his  act  He  sent  a  pestilence  which  destroyed  sevent}r 
thousand  of  his  people.  The  tendency  of  the  age,  I  repeat, 
is  to  measure  everything  by  numbers,  but  we  should  re- 
member that  the  work  of   God's  Holy    Spirit  can   not  be 


25 

measured  by  the  rules  of  arithmetic,  nor  can  it  be  valued  ill 
dollars  and  cents.  "Paul  may  plant,  and  Apollos  may 
water,  but  God  alone  can  give  the  increase."  A  faithful 
and  devoted  pastor  may  toil  on  for  years  in  a  particular 
field  without  any  great  visible  results  of  his  efforts,  and 
yet  we  dare  not  say  that  he  has  labored  in  vain.  All  the 
while  he  may  have  been  sowing*  good  seed,  and  we  know 
not  what  the  harvest  may  be,  by  and  by  Our  part  then, 
my  brethren,  yours  and  mine,  is  to  do  our  duty  wherever  it 
may  please  God  to  place  us,  and  then  leave  the  results  with 
Him.  We  are  not  responsible  for  results;  we  are  only  re- 
sponsible for  the  work  that  has  been  committed  to  our 
hands.  Let  us  see  to  it  that  we  take  it  up  bravely,  and  not 
shirk  it  and  run  away  from  it. 

Glancing,  then,  at  the  two  periods  covered  by  the  present 
and  former  rectorships  (it  not  being  possible  to  give  full 
statistics  for  the  whole  time,  owing  to  the  destruction  of 
the  parish  register)  let  us  see  what  may  be  found  for  our 
encouragement,  or  reproof,  as  the  case  may  be.  During 
the  ten  years  covering  the  first  period,  there  were  69 
baptisms,  40  confirmations,  27  marriages,  90  burials,  and 
58  communicants  added  to  the  list.  During  that  period, 
too,  the  grounds  around  the  new  church  were  inclosed  with 
a  neat  fence,  the  tower  was  finished,  and  a  bell  placed  in 
it,  the  gift  of  Mrs.  Bessie  Leak,  and  Miss  Sadie  Smedes, 
in  memory  of  their  parents,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Aldert  Smedes, 
and  Mrs.  Sarah  Lyell  Smedes.  The  roof  and  exterior 
walls  of  the  church  were  painted,  a  pipe  organ  purchased, 
the  gallery  built,  the  rectory  painted,  and  the  debt  on  the 
church,  including  interest,  was  reduced  from  $900.00  to 
$400.00 — much  of  all  this  work  having  been  done  by  the 
ladies  of  the  parish  who  were  then,  as  they  are  now,  ever 
active  in  good  works. 

During  the  five  }?ears  of  the  present  rectorship,  there 
have  been  29  baptisms,  43  confirmations,  9  marriages,  29 
burials,  and  33  communicants  added  to  the  list,  making 
the  present  number  125.  During  this  period,  too,  the  bal- 
ance due  on  the  church  building  and  the  former  rector's 
salary  has  all  been  paid,  the  chancel  has  been  partlv  re- 
modeled,  the    interior  wood-work    stained  and    oiled,    the 


26 

walls  tinted,  the  chancel  and  aisles  carpeted,  and  a  set  oi 
chandeliers  purchased.  These  details  do  not,  of  course, 
express  all  of  the  activity  of  the  parish,  and  I  may  have- 
omitted  some  thing's  that  ought  to  have  been  mentioned, 
but  what  I  have  stated  will  give  some  idea  of  what  may  be 
done  Where  there  are  consecrated  hearts  and  willing-  hands 
to  take  up. and  do  the  Master's  work. 

Many  of  those  who  have  been  active  in  this  blessed  work, 
together  with  many  whom  they  have  been  instrumental  in 
bringing  into  the  fold  of  our  beloved  Church,  are  now 
sleeping  their  last  sleep  beneath  the  shadow  of  these  sacred 
walls.-  And  after  all,  dear  friends  and  brethren,  what  will, 
all  of  our  labors  amount  to  if  they  are  not  done  in  that 
spirit  of  love  and  devotion  and  self-sacrifice  which  will 
make  us  worthy  of  the  companionship  of  all  the  saints  who* 
have  gone  before  us?  May  we,  with  them,  have  our  per- 
fect consummation  and  bliss,  both  in  body  and  soul,  in  the 
eternal  and  everlasting  glory  of  our  God  and  Father,, 
through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord  !.    Amen. 


THE  REV.  JOS.  BLOUNT  CHESHIRE,  D.   D. 

BISHOP   OF    NORTH    CAROLINA. 


"Perfect  and  upright: 
That  feared  God  and  eschewed  evil." 


A  MEMORIAL  SERMON. 


BY  THE  REV.  JOS.  BLOUNT  CHESHIRE,  D.  D. 

BISHOP  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA. 


"There  was  a  man  in  the  land  of  Uz,  whose  name  was  Job;  and 
that  man  was  perfect  and  uprig-ht,  and  one  that  feared  God,  and 
eschewed  evil.  And  there  were  born  unto  him  seven  sons  and  three 
daughters.  His  substance  also  was  seven  thousand  sheep,  and  three 
thousand  camels,  and  five  hundred  yoke  of  oxen,  and  five  hundred  she 
asses,  and  a  very  great  household;  so  that  this  was  the  greatest  of  all 
the  men  of  the  east  " — Job  1:  1,  2,  3. 

The  Bible  is  the  word  of  God.  And  the  word  of  God  to 
us  is  about  man.  God  speaks  to  us.  He  condescends  to  the 
narrow  limitations  of  our  life,  and  interests  Himself  in  our 
affairs.  We  are  His  creatures  in  our  origin;  He  makes  us 
His  own  children  by  adoption  and  grace;  but — almost  more 
than  that!  He  makes  us  His  associates;  "Jacob  whom  I 
have  chosen!"  "Abraham  my  friend!"  How  great  a  part 
of  His  blessed  Word  is  taken  up  with  the  domestic  life  and 
fortnnes  of  those  whom  He  thus  dignified  and  blessed! 
Abraham's  wanderings;  his  relations  with  his  kinsman 
Lot ;  the  dissentions  between  their  herdmen;  the  sending 
back  to  his  own  family  for  a  wife  for  his  son  Isaac ;  the 
parental  weaknesses  of  Isaac  and  Rebecca  in  bringing  up 
their  sons;  the  curious  and,  to  our  very  short  and  imperfect 
vision,  not  always  edifying  domestic  affairs  of  Jacob's 
household;  these  and  many  like  passages  are  part  of  the 
revelation  of  God's  Holy  Word! 

And  all  this  is  intended  to  impress  upon  us  the  realty  and 
the  closeness  of  God  in  our  lives.  The  infiniteness  of  the 
divine  nature,  and  the  breadth  of  the  divine  purpose,  are 
manifested  in  this  relationship  between  the  most  familiar 
and,  we  may  say,  the  most  sordid  things  of  our  daily  life, 


29 

and  t"he  presence  and  providential  ordering-  of  God.  And 
'God's  presence  and  purpose,  being-  thus  associated  with  our 
whole  life  in  all  its  interests  and  experiences,  we  see  and 
feel  that  our  whole  life  is  thereby  ennobled  and  sanctified, 
and  made  to  show  forth  that  presence  and  that  purpose. 
Man  ceases  to  be  merely  a  creature  of  earth,  and  becomes 
by  anticipation  a  citizen  of  the  heavenly  city.  He  develops 
here  the  qualities  which  shall  adorn  the  life  above.  He  is 
seen  to  have  in  him  the  promise  of  the  divine.  He  may 
well  be  even  now  the  object  of  God's  care  and  solicitude, 
since  he  is  thus  to  grow  into  the  divine  nature,  and  to  real- 
ize the  heavenly  destiny. 

And  so  God  delights  in  man,  and  God's  inspired  Word 
teaches  its  best  lessons  and  its  profoundest  truths  by  set- 
ting before  us  the  lives  of  men.  And  the  men  whose  char- 
acters and  experience  the  Bible  portrays  for  us  are  not  so 
different  from  the  men  we  see  and  know  in  the  world  to- 
day as  perhaps  we  think  them  to  be.  We  are  especially 
told  that  the  best  of  them  were  of  like  nature  and  with  the 
same  weakness  as  ourselves.  They  were  not  necessarily 
more  intimately  associated  with  the  divine  purpose  than 
we  are,  and  we  can  not  be  at  all  sure  that  they  enjo}Ted  a 
more  real  presence  and  blessing  of  the  divine  than 
we  do.  The  Bible  sets  forth  for  our  instruction  their  inner 
life  in  its  relations  with  God,  and  depicts  their  spiritual 
experiences,  so  that  we  may  see  how  God  dealt  with  them, 
and  how  they  responded  to  the  divine  call,  and  in  what  way 
they  developed  under  the  experiences  of  life.  But  the  same 
thing  is  implicit  in  all  human  life,  and  is  going  on  all  about 
us  to-day.  It  is  quite  possible  that  in  the  pages  of  Holy 
Scriptuae  we  have  a  clear  view  of  this  inner  life  of  God's 
servants,  Abraham  and  Isaac  and  Jacob  and  Moses  and 
David  and  others,  which  was  hidden  from  the  men  of 
their  own  time.  It  is  not  certain  that  these  men 
themselves  had  at  all  the  same  full  knowledge  of  their  own 
lives  which  we  possess.  Human  souls  are  as  precious  to 
God  now  as  they  ever  were.  He  chooses  his  instruments 
now,  and  He  has  still  His  friends  among  men,  little  as  we 
may  be  conscious  of  it.  He  is  the  same  yesterday  and  to- 
day, and  forever. 


30 

There  is  no  more  beautiful  picture' in  the  Bible  than 
that  presented  to  the  mind's  eye  by  the  words  of  the 
text,  taken  along-  with  all  the  associations  of  thsee  words. 
"There  was  a  man  in  the  land  of  Uz,  whose  name  was  Job; 
and  that  man  was  perfect  and  upright,  and  one  that  feared 
God  and  eschewed  evil.  And  there  were  born  unto  him  seven 
sons  and  three  daughters.  His  substance  also  was  seven 
thousand  sheep,  and  three  thousand  camels,  and  five  hun- 
dred yoke  of  oxen,  and  five  hundred  she  asses,  and  a  very 
great  household;  so  that  this  man  was  the  greatest  of  all 
the  men  of  the  east." 

This  scene  of  human  felicity  and  worldly  prosperity  is  a. 
manifestation  of  God's  dealings  with  men.  The  divine 
goodness  expresses  itself  in  material  blessings.  In  the 
simpler  state  of  patriarchal  society,  before  life  had  become 
complicated  with  the  dark  procerus  involved  in  the  crowd- 
ed populations  and  the  artificial  conditions  of  a  highly 
civilized  community,  there  seems  to  have  been  a  closer  and 
more  direct  connection  between  a  virtuous  and  upright  life 
and  the  temporal  blessings  of  God:  "He  left  not  Himself 
without  witness,  in  that  He  did  good,  and  gave  us  rain 
from  heaven  and  fruitful  seasons,  rilling  our  hearts  with 
food  and  gladness."  From  Him  cometh  every  good  and 
perfect  gift:  and  so  we  have  this  beautiful  picture  of  the 
great  man  of  the  East,  living  in  patriarchal  abundance  and 
simplicity,  his  house  rilled  with  troops  of  happy  children, 
seven  sons  and  three  daughters,  who  presently  grow  up  to 
maturity,  and  have  houses  of  their  own,  where  they  enter- 
tain each  other,  and  feast,  with  perhaps  something  of  the 
extravagance  and  folly  apt  to  be  associated  with  such  cir- 
cumstances of  youth  and  affluence.  He  has  many  flocks  and 
herds,  and  is  largely  eng-aged  in  the  business  of  that  pas- 
toral country.  He  has  also  a  very  great  household,  by 
which  we  are  to  understand  that  he  had  many  slaves.  And 
in  that  simple  condition  of  early  society  slavery  was  hardly 
a  state  of  degredation  and  misery.  It  was  rather  the  nat- 
ural relation  of  the  less  intelligent  and  poorer  class  to  the 
great  families  and  local  chieftains,  to  whom  the  weaker 
sort  had  to  look  for  support  and  protection.  They  were 
members  of  his  family  in  an  humble  way,  sharing  in  the 


31 

personal  care  and  kindly  regard  of  their  master,  valuable 
to  him  for  their  services,  but  also  receiving-  from  him  the 
supply  of  their  wants  and  protection  for  the  weakness; 
and  through  him  enjoying  a  humanizing  and  elevating  re- 
lationship with  that  which  was  highest  and  best  in  char- 
acter and  in  social  development. 

We  have  an  interesting  side-light  thrown  upon  the  con- 
dition of  Job's  household,  and  the  relationship  between 
him  and  his  slaves,  in  the  beautiful  and  pathetic  passage, 
in  which  he  appeals  to  God  in  witness  of  the  integrity  of 

his  life: 

[* 

"If  I  did  despise  th,e  cause  of  my  manservant, 
Or  of  my  maidservant,  when  they  contended  with  me: 
What  then  shall  I  do  when  God  riseth  up? 
And  when  He  visiteth,what  shall  I  answer  Him? 
Did  not  He  that  made  me  in  the  womb  make  him? 
And  did  not  one  fashion  us  in  the  womb?" 

This  great  wealth  and  this  great  household  made  Job 
one  of  the  great  men  among  his  people:  "This  man  was 
the  greatest  of  all  the  men  of  the  east,"  we  are  told.  He 
seems  to  have  lived  in  the  country,  in  the  simplicity  of 
rural  society,  removed  from  the  bustle  and  roar  of  the  city. 
But  we  catch  glimpses  of  a  background  of  commerce  and 
politics;  and  even  Job  is  brought  into  some  connection  with 
the  busier  life  of  the  communit}-;  and  we  see  him  honored 
and  respected  among  the  magnates  of  the  land,  when  he 
chose  to  show  himself  in  the  city,  and  to  claim  his  place 
among  his  equals. 

"When  I  went  forth  to  the  gate  of  the  city, 
When  I  prepared  my  way  in  the  street, 
The  young  men  saw  me  and  hid  themselves, 
And  the  ag'ed  rose  up  and  stood: 

$  $  $  $  4°  -  >K  $.  .$  $ 

"For  when  the  ear  heard  me,  then  it  blessed  me  ; 
And  when  the.  eye  saw  me,  it  gave  witness  to  me: 
Because  I  delivered  the  poor  that  cried, 
The  fatherless  also,  that  had  none  to  help  him: 
The  blessing  of  him  that  was  ready  to  perish  came 
upon  me, 


32 
And  I  caused  the  widow's  heart  to-  sing  for  Joy."" 

He  sums  up  his  former  condition  in  this  beautiful  retro- 
spect : 

"O  that  I  were  as  in  the  months  of  old, 
As  in  the  days  when  God  watched  over  me; 
When  His  lamp  shined  upon  my  head, 
And  by  His  light  I  walked  through  darkness : 
As  I  was  in  the  ripeness  of  my  days, 
When  the  secret  of  God  was  upon  my  tent: 
When  the  Almighty  was  yet  with  me, 
And  my  children  were  about  me: 
When  my  steps  were  washed  with  bntter 
And  the  rock  poured  me  out  riversof  oil."- 

This  is  a  wonderful  picture  of  the  love  and  goodness  of 
God.  manifesting-  itself  in  temporal  blessing's,  poured  out 
upon  a  man  who  showed  himself  worthy  of  this  love  and 
goodness.  God  Himself  commends  him,  and  points  him. 
out  to  the  accuser,  Satan,  as  an  example  of  human  virtue: 
"Hast  thou  considered  my  servant  Job,  that  there  is  none 
like  him  in  the  earth,  a  perfect  and  an  upright  man,  one  that 
feareth  God,  and  escheweth  evil?"  Here  was  truth  and 
purity  and  goodness.  God  saw  it  and  loved  it,  and  held  it 
up  to  the  accuser  as  a  proof  of  that  virtue  in  which  the 
evil  spirit  and  evil  men  do  not  believe.  The  book  of  Job  is 
an  inspired  testimony  to  the  reality  and  the  preciousness  in 
God's  sight  of  human  virtue.  It  has  many  lessons  for  us; 
it  illustrates  some  of  the  profound  truths  of  God's  govern- 
ment and  of  man's  experience;  but  first  of  all  it  sets  forth 
God's  recognition  and  God's  estimate  of  human  character; 
and  it  stamps  its  divine  condemnation  upon  those,  whether 
men  or  devils,  who,  with  the  wisdom  of  Satan,  belittle  and 
deny  the  goodness  of  God's  faithful  servants,  and  scornfully 
ask:   "Doth  Job  fear  God  for  naught?" 

I  shall  not  attempt  to  enter  upon  the  real  question  which 
is  developed  in  the  grand  tragedy  of  Job's  bitter  experi- 
ences. I  am  endeavoring  to  elucidate  only  one  aspect  of 
the  case.  In  all  this  early  part  of  the  story  God's  goodness 
shows  itself  in  the  pleasing  scenes  of  prosperity  aud  felic- 
ity; and  under  this  dispensation  of  happiness  Job  justifies 


33 

the  goodness  of  God  to  him.  And  then,  for  wise  and  great 
•ends  to  be  attained  through  suffering-,  but  for  ends  wholly 
beyond  Job's  knowledge,  that  same  goodness  and  love  of 
God  manifests  itself  in  calamity  and  loss  and  bereavement 
and  suffering  and  humiliation.  Kvery  element  of  good 
disappears;  the  edifice  of  his  felicity  crumbles  under  him; 
his  wealth  shrinks  and  shrinks,  and  then  is  swallowed  up  in 
the  voracious  maw  of  encompassing  adversaries;  his  child- 
ren are  taken  from  him;  and  houseless  and  homeless  he  be- 
comes a  spectacle  to  those  base  natures,  who,  having  no  true 
nobility  in  themselves,  vainly  suppose  that  their  sordid  gains 
have  raised  them  to  the  level  of  that  fallen  greatness.  And 
it  was  only  in  these  sad  circumstances  of  sorrow  and  loss, 
and  it  was  by  these  experiences  of  affliction,  that  the  good- 
ness and  greatness  of  this  noble  man  was  perfected  and 
made  known.  All  his  wealth  and  happiness  would  never 
have  gained  him  a  place  in  God's  inspired  volume,  nor  pre- 
served his  name  and  example  to  us,  but  for  that  fiery  ordeal 
through  which  he  passed,  and  which,  burning  up  the  dross, 
left  only  the  pure  gold  to  shine  out  undimmed  to  all  ages. 
When  the  storm  fell  upon  him  and  swept  from  him  all  of 
his  wealth  and  prosperity  and  glory  and  domestic  felicity, 
this  is  the  record  of  him:  "And  Job  arose,  and  rent  his 
mantle,  and  shaved  his  head,  and  fell  down  upon  the  ground, 
and  worshipped;  and  he  said.  Naked  came  I  out  of  my 
mother's  womb,  and  naked  shall  I  return  thither:  The  Lord 
gave,  and  the  Lord  hath  taken  away:  Blessed  be  the  name 
of  the  Lord  In  all  this  Job  sinned  not,  nor  charged  God 
foolishly." 

Here  is  a  spectacle  which  all  ages  look  upon  with  won- 
der and  admiration.  I  believe  that,  next  to  the  incompar- 
able character  of  our  blesseed  Lord  Himself,  no  character  in 
Holy  Writ  has  commanded  such  universal  homage  from 
the  hearts  and  minds  of  the  greatest  men  as  the  character 
of  Job;  of  Job,  tried  by  prosperity  and  not  debased  or  cor- 
rupted thereby,  aud  tried  by  extremest  suffering,  and  still 
maintaining  his  integrity.  The  testimon}*  of  God  to  him 
remains  unaffected  through  all  changes  of  fortune:  "Hast 
thou  considered  my  servant  Job,  that  there  is  none  like  him 
in  the  earth,  aperfect  and  an  upright  man,  one  that  feareth 


34 

God,  and  escheweth  evil,"  Human  nature  is  dignified  and 
ennobled  and  justified  before  men  and  devils  by  his  ex- 
ample. 

But  what  I  wish  you  to  observe,  my  dear  brethren,  is 
that  the  characters  in  Holy  Scripture  are  exemplary.  They 
are  exhibited  as  illustrating-  certain  permanent  qualities. 
in  human  nature.  It  is  because  Job  was  a  man,  such  a  man 
as  we;  it  is  because  there  are  the  same  possibilities  in  us* 
that  the  book  of  Job  possesses  snch  interest  and  value. 
And  human  life  to-day  is  the  same;  and  God's  servants- 
now,  upon  that  secret  and  hidden  stage,  in  which  their 
characters  appear  in  his  eyes  alone,  act  their  parts  through 
the  same  tragedies  of  suffering  and  pain,  and  triumph 
over  the  suggestion  of  Satan,  and  bless  the  world,  and 
encourage  their  weaker  brethren,  by  helping  us  to  believe 
that  human  nature  can  still  show  forth  divine  power,  can 
fear  God  and  eschew  evil,  and  maintain  its  integrity  in  the 
midst  of  worldly  loss  and  sorrow  and  ruin. 

My  dear  brethren,  I  have  not  taken  my  text  so  much  as- 
an  act  of  free  choice,  as  by  a  sort  of  moral  compulsion.  I 
have  for  some  years  had  it  in  my  mind  to  speak  to  you  of 
the  old  life  in  this  community,  as  I  remember  it;  and  think- 
ing of  the  men  who  to  my  boyish  mind  represented  Trinity 
Church,  Scotland  Neck,  and  contemplating  the  pastoral 
simplicity  of  their  life,  and  the  sad  trials  through  which 
the  integrity  of  their  Christian  character  manifested  itself, 
the  opening  verses  of  this  wonderful  book  of  Job  forced 
themselves  upon  my  mind,  as  embodying  the  essential  feat- 
ures of  their  lives  and  of  their  experience.  I  make  no 
apology  for  putting  them  along  side  of  Job,  and  claiming 
for  them  something  of  his  humility  and  simplicity  and 
godliness  and  uprightness  and  generosity,  in  their  days  of 
prosperity,  and  of  his  noble  patience  and  dignity  when  the 
hand  of  God  was  laid  upon  them  in  love,  which  chose  suf- 
fering for  its  method.  Unless  Job's  life  is  still  to  be  re- 
produced among  men,  I  see  no  use  for  the  book  of  Job  in 
the  sacred  volume;  and  if  Job's  nobleness  and  Job's  virtue 
and  Job's  patient  endurance  of  affliction  were  ever  repro- 
duced upon  the  stage  of  that  world  which  you  and  I  have 
seen,  I  say  without  hesitation  that  these   qualities  showed 


35 

themselves  in  the  lives  which  to-day  I  have  especially  in 
mind.  And  I  name  the  men,  not  as  excluding-  others,  but  as 
representing  theibest  type  of  our  older  generation,  William 
Ruffin  Smith,  Richard  Henry  Smith,  James  Norfleet 
Smith.  To-day,  as  your  representative  and  speaking  for 
this  Parish,  and  as  your  Bishop  speaking  for  the  Diocese 
of  North  Carolina,  I  thank  God  for  their  godly  lives,  for 
their  simple  faith,  for  their  patient  hope,  for  their  noble 
humility,  for  that  having  finished  their  course  in  faith 
they  do  now  rest  from  their  labors 

I  think  I  could  easily  set  forth  at  least  some  of  the 
qualities  by  which  these  brothers  manifested 
each  a  special  personality,  but  I  prefer  to  speak  of 
those  qualities  which  they  possessed  in  common.  In- 
deed I  have  not  time  or  space  at  command  for  any- 
thing else.  They  stand  out  in  my  memory  very  distinct 
the  one  from  the  other,  in  ph}rsical  appearance,  in.  mental 
characteristics,  in  personal  flavor,  so  to  speak;  but  they 
had  their  best  qualities  so  much  alike  that  I  may  well 
speak  of  them  in  common.  And  in  speaking  of  them  I 
shall  have  in  mind  others,  their  friends  and  associates, 
men  and  women,  whom,  for  want  of  time,  I  can  not  name, 
whose  memories  I  love  and  venerate  as  part  of  that  past 
which  in  the  person  of  these  three  representatives  I  now 
honor  and  commemorate. 

In  the  first  place  they  were  rich  men,  certainly  among  the 
most  prosperous  and  influential  in  their  own  section.  God 
had  blessed  them  with  wealth.  They  had  not  acquired 
it  by  an  eager  or  absorbing  pursuit;  it  had  come  to  them 
by  inheritance,  and  had  been  augmented  by  industry  and 
prudence,  and  by  their  contented  and  unostentatious  life. 
Their  early  period  w^as  one  of  general  prosperity,  and  all 
values  largely  increased  by  the  general  advance  and  devel- 
opment of  the  country.  The  broad  bottoms  of  the  Roanoke, 
dyked  against  the  spring  freshets,  }*ielded  them  great  crops 
of  corn  wThich,  besides  supporting  their  large  and  increas- 
ing families  of  slaves,  gave  them  a  profitable  staple  for  the 
market.  Living  themselves  in  spacious  residences  built 
upon  the  pine  lands  back  from  the  river,  surrounded  by 
smaller  cultivated  tracts,   the}T  enjoyed  the  benefit  of  the 


36 

tetter  air  and  water,  while  retaining-  to.  a  great  extent  the 
personal  direction  of  their  extensive  farms  and  plantations. 
They  married  early,  and  had  large  families.  Their  spacious 
houses  were  full  of  boys  and  girls,  and  the  g-uest  chambers 
were  seldom  unoccupied  for  long.  Their  hospitality,  like 
themselves,  was  simple,  generous,  without  effort  or  self- 
consciousness.  There  was  abundance  for  all,  and  all  were 
welcome.  And  g-uests  and  family  formed  for  the  time  one 
household.  The  guest  soon  forgot  that  he  was  being-  en- 
tertained, and  found  himself  a  member  of  the  family.  All 
were  friends  and  brethren  to  those  big  hearts:  "The 
stranger  did  not  lodge  in  the  streets:  they  opened  their 
doors  to  the  traveler." 

There  was  the  same  spontaneous  and  unconscious  gen- 
erosity in  their  relief  of  the  few  poor  about  them.  Their 
pastor  used  to  say  that  if  any  case  of  want  came  to  his 
knowledge  within  miles  of  them,  he  had  only  to  make  it 
known  to  any  one  of  the  three,  with  a  suggesiton  of  the 
character  of  the  help  needed,  and  the  next  morning  a 
servant  with  a  cart  would  be  sent  off  with  bountiful 
supplies  to  the  disabled  man  or  poor  widow,  and 
nothing  more  was  said  about  it.  If  any  men,  they  surely 
could  sa^y  with  Job: 

"If  I  have  withheld  the  poor   from  their  desire, 

Or  have  caused  the  eyes  of  the  widow  to  fail; 

Or  have  eaten  my  morsel  alone, 

And  the  fatherless  have  not  eaten  thereof. 

If  I  have  seen  any  perish  for  want  of  clothing, 

Or  that  the  needy  had  no  covering; 

If  his  loins  have  not  blessed  me, 

And    if    he    were  not  warmed  with   the  fleece   of   my 
sheep; 

If  I  have  lifted  up  my  hand  against  the  fatherless, 

Because  I  saw  my  help  in  the  gate: 

Then  let  my  arm  fall  from  the  shoulder-blade, 

And  mine  arm  be  broken  from  the  bone." 

And  a  word  must  be  said  of  their  relation  with    their 

poorer  and  less  cultivated  neighbors.     I  have  heard,  and  I 

have  read,  of  the  "Aristocratic  South,"  and  of  the  pride  of 

ancestry  and    the    contempt  for    the  plain  and  poor  people 


37 

felt  by  the  Southern  aristocrats.  Some  Southern  writers 
give  us  such  representations  of  our  former  social  condition. 
To  the  best  of  my  memory  I  never  saw  anything-  of  the 
kind.  These  men  of  whom  I  speak,  and  their  associates  of 
other  families  in  the  community,  were  aristocrats,  if  there 
were  any  aristocrats  in  the  country.  They  were  far  above 
the  mass  of  people  in  wealth  and  education,  in  influence 
and  social  culture.  Their  persons  and  their  characters  were 
known  throughout  the  State.  The  bare  mention  of  their 
names  commanded  immediate  attention  and  respect  from 
one  end  of  North  Carolina  to  the  ohter,  not  to  extend  the 
assertion.  Yet  I  undertake  to  say  that  the  idea  that  this 
fortunate  circumstance  of  the  worldly  position  made  them 
better  than  their  poorer  neighbors,  or  would  excuse  in  them 
any  want  of  respect  or  of  courtesy  to  any  man,  never  once 
entered  into  their  minds.  And  they  did  not  show  their 
respect  and  courtesy  with  that  condesension  which  makes 
it  worse  than  insult.  They  were  uniformly  courteous  and 
respectful  to  all,  because  in  the  noble  simplicity  of  their 
nature  they  knew  no  other  way  of  behaving. 

I  have  spoken  of  the  natural,  and  the  practically  neces- 
sary existence  of  slavery  in  the  patriarchal  age,  and  of  the 
mutuality  of  the  benefit  arising-  out  of  that  relation  be- 
tween master  and  slave.  I  am  not  advocating  slavery.  I 
thank  God  that  it  has  been  abolishad.  I  believe  the  men 
of  whom  I  speak  had  no  desire  that  it  might  be  otherwise. 
But  I  assert,  that,  in  the  case  of  such  masters,  slavery  re- 
tained much  of  its  patriarchial  character,  and  that  the 
bond  between  the  two  was  a  kindly  bond,  and  that  the  ben- 
efits arising  out  of  it  were  mutual.  Is  it  quite  certain 
that,  taken  as  a  whole,  the  present  generation  of  negroes  in 
Halifax  County  are  happier,  more  virtuous,  in  better  condi- 
tion of  comfort,  than  their  fathers  and  mothers  were?  Let 
us  hope  that  there  are  advantages  in  the  possession  of  free 
dom.  But  when  I  go  out  of  this  church,  and  stop  to  receive 
the  kindly  greetings  of  old  friends  and  kinsmen,  and  when  I 
find  in  the  crowd,  as  I  always  do,  some  dark  faces  familiar 
to  me  since  my  boyhood,  it  seems  to  me  that  there  is  some- 
thing of  goodness  and  intelligence,  and  of  refinement  of 
feeling  in  them  which  I   miss  in  the  younger  members  of 


38 

their  race. 

Aand  certainly  those  men  are  not  unmindful  of  the 
religious  interests  of  their  servants.  In  the  forenoon 
the  services  of  the  Church  were  attended  by  the  white  peo- 
ple; in  the  afternoon  the  same  minister  in  the  same  church 
officiated  for  the  colored  congregation,  which  crowded  the 
building.  At  the  visitations  of  the  Bishop  the  candidates 
for  confirmation,  white  and  black,  kneeled  at  the  rail  for 
the  Imposition  of  Hands;  and  at  the  Holy  Communion  the 
colored  communicants  followed  their  masters  and  mistress- 
es, and  received  the  Blessed  Sacrament  at  the  same  admin- 
istration. I  am  not  sure  that  either  race  has  gained  by 
the  change  which  has  separated  them  in  public  worship. 

I  have  said  that  these  men  were  men  of  wealth;  and 
certainly  for  two  or  three  generation,  perhaps  even  further 
back,  their  progenitors  had  been  among  the  rich  men  of 
their  section.  But  this  should  be  observed  in  regard  to 
their  wealth;  it  had  come  to  them,  we  may  say,  in  the  way 
of  nature.  They  had  not  made  their  fortunes,  nor  had 
they  augmented  them  by  any  special  efforts.  And  their 
possessions  were  of  such  a  character,  being  extensive  land- 
ed estates,  and  numerous  families  of  slaves,  that  along 
with  their  increase,  there  were  a  visible  increasing  respon- 
sibility, and  a  demand  upon  their  personal  interest  and  at- 
tention, which  gave  very  little  opening  for  self  indulgence 
or  other  ordinar}-  temptations  of  wealth.  They  had  no 
passion  and  habit  of  money-seeking.  They  possessed  their 
wealth:  it  did  not  possess  or  engross  them.  As  the  owners 
of  their  laborers,  they  were  first  of  all  dispensers  of  their 
wealth  to  others.  The  surplus  they  enjoyed  in  moderation, 
and  gave  with  generosity.  In  their  greatest  prosperity 
they  were  earnest,  serious,  industrious,  frugal,  hardy  and 
robust  men,  abstemious  in  habit,  living  much  out  of  doors, 
simple  in  their  tastes,  intirely  indifferent  to  the  luxuries 
to  which  they  were  accustomed.  When  their  wealth  dis- 
appeared, it  took  from  them  nothing  essential  to  their 
self  respect  and  dignity,  I  might  almost  say  to  their  com- 
fort. 

I  cannot  omit  to  say  that  these  men  were  Church- 
men.    In  a  sense  they  were  Churchmen  by  inheritance,  for 


39 

their  ancestors  were  Churchmen,  and  the  traditions  of  the 
Church  had'  not  altogether  died  out  in  the  community. 
That  godly  woman,  who  in  the  generation  immediately 
preceding  them  had  been  the  nursing  mother  of  the  Church 
in  Scotland  Neck,  Mrs.  Rebecca  Hill,  was  of  the  same 
family  connection,  and  she,  and  a  few  like  her,  had  kept  the 
spark  alive.  But  with  an  inherited  inclination  to  the 
Church,  they  had  all  been  baptized  in  adult  years,  and  their 
attachment  to  the  Church  was  upon  mature  conviction  as 
well  as  upon  inherited  sentiments.  They  were  truly  godly 
men.  They  made  no  boast  of  their  religion.  The}-  might 
have  answered  with  good  Bishop  Griswold,  when  question- 
ed by  an  impertinent  as  to  his  vital  piety,  that  they  "'had 
none  to  speak  of."  They  would  have  been  unable  to  hold 
their  own  in  pious  professions  with  many  a  new  convert  of 
our  modern  revivalists  and  so-called  evangelists.  But 
they  at  least  suggest  to  our  mind  something  very 
much  nearer  the  inspired  description  of  Job,  than 
most  of  the  class  I  have  alluded  to:  "A  perfect  and  an 
upright  man,  one  that  feareth  God  and  escheweth  evil." 
If  that  be  a  just  description  of  the  men  whom  God  ap- 
proves, then  may  we  claim  that  the}*-  belonged  in  that  class, 
though  they  would  have  been  deeply  shocked  if  required  to 
make  such  a  claim  for  themselves. 

Let  me  mention  one  matter  as  illustrating  their  way  of 
doing  things.  The  small  church,  built  chiefly,  I  have  been 
told,  by  Mrs.  Thomas  B.  Hill  before  mentioned,  had  grown 
too  small  for  the  congregation  in  1854;  or  at  least  they  felt 
that  they  should  erect  a  more  suitable  one.  The  Rector  of 
the  Parish,  by  their  consent,  selected  what  he  thought  the 
best  site  for  the  new  church.  As  much  land  as  he  thousfht 
necessary  was  conveyed  to  the  vestry  for  a  church-yard. 
The  Rector  then  corresponded  with  one  of  the  first  archi- 
tects in  the  county  and  had  plans  and  specifications  pre- 
pared for  such  a  church  as  he  thought  necessary.  These 
plans  and  specifications  were  put  into  their  hands.  The}T 
set  their  negroes  to  work  burning  brick  and  cutting  timber. 
They  employed  such  skilled  laborers  as  were  necessary  to 
direct  the  work,  and  to  do  what  their  laborers  were  unable 
to  do.     They  had  the  church  built  and  they  paid  the  bills, 


40 

and  if  any  person  desired  to  contribute  he  did  so.  They 
received  what  was  offered,  and  some  other  members  of  the 
congregation  did  contribute  to  the  work.  But  there  was 
no  soliciting-  of  contributions,  no  contrivances  to  extract 
money  from  the  unwilling.  They  built  the  church  and 
paid  for  it,  with  such  contributions  as  were  offered,  and 
when  they  had  done  this,  they  did  not  imagine  that  they 
had  done  any  great  thing.  Perhaps  very  few 
people  in  this  congregation  know  that  such  was 
the  method  of  their  fathers.  Well  as  I  knew  them 
and  their  families  I  did  not  hear  it  from  them. 

They  were  Churchmen,  and  being  Churchmen  they  illus- 
trated the  broad  and  catholic  spirit  of  the  Church.  There 
was  nothing  sectarian  in  their  character  or  in  their  conduct, 
or  in  their  Christianity.  There  was  no  such  thing  among 
them  and  those  of  their  kind  as  dividing  the  little  com- 
munity into  cliques  and  parties,  and  portioning  out  their 
favor  and  patronage  according  to  lines  of  religious  opinion. 
I  have  heard  of  such  things  in  these  days.  Perhaps  some 
people  think  such  a  spirit  is  in  accordance  with  the  will  of 
our  Lord.  These  men  and  such  as  these  did  not  think  so. 
But  narrow  souls  love  their  very  smallness,  and  cherish 
their  limitations.  It  is  only  by  keeping  in  very  small  quar- 
ters that  little  men  can  keep  up  the  illusions  of  their  own 
greatness. 

I  have  described  these  men  as  I  remember  them,  and  as 
their  characters  were  interpreted  to  me  by  one  whom  they 
loved  and  trusted,  their  faithful  Pastor  and  Parish  Priest. 
For  nearly  thirty  years  he  ministered  to  them,  and  to  the 
end  of  their  lives  remained  their  true  and  trusted  friend. 
One  of  them  has  recorded  of  this  long  and  intimate  associ- 
ation, that  the  only  thing  that  had  given  a  moments  pain 
or  unhappiness  on  either  side,  was  that  it  had  come  to  an 
end.  He  said  of  his  Scotland  Neck  people,  and  especially 
of  these  three,  that  he  felt  that  they  would  have 
plucked  out  their  eyes  for  him.  He  loved,  he  admired, 
he  trusted  them  all.  He  had  special  relations  with  the 
youngest,  with  whom  he  had  been  at  school.  I  never  could 
tell  which  of  them  he  admired  and  valued  most  highly.  I 
do  not  believe  he  knew.     He  discriminated  between  them 


41 

in  his  judgment  in  some  respects,  but  each  one  com- 
manded his  perfect  confidence  and  his  unqualified  respect 
and  love. 

I  have  dwelt  upon  the  pleasing-  picture  of  past  times  until 
I  have  left  myself  no  room  for  much  that  I  would  like  to  say. 
The  men  whom  I  have  ventured  to  liken  to  Job,  in  their  in- 
tegrity of  character  and  in  the  happy  fortune  of  their  pros- 
perous days,  had  also  in  some  measure  Job's  experience  of 
adversity.  Nobly  and  beautifully  they  stood  the  test.  I 
had  not  dared  to  speak  of  them  as  I  have  done,  except  that 
I  had  seen  them  thus  proved.  They  had  not  to  endure  Job's 
extremity  of  suffering  and  loss,  but  they  endured  enough 
to  show  that  their  virtues  were  rooted  in  a  nature  beyond 
the  mutations  of  time  and  fortune.  I  have  never  known 
men  who  seemed  to  me  to  have  lost  so  little  in  losing  their 
fortunes.  One  of  them  was  speaking  to  me  of  his  changed 
circumstances,  and  the  only  regret  he  expressed  was,  that 
it  seemed  to  him  that  in  his  days  of  affluence  he  had  done 
so  much  less  for  others  than  he  might  have  done.  And 
while  he  was  saying  this  to  me,  I  knew,  though  probably 
he  had  forgotten  it,  that  in  a  measure,  I  owed  my  position 
in  the  world  to  him.  He  had  advanced  to  my  father  (and 
doubtless  would  as  cheerfully  have  given  it,  had  it  been 
necessary)  the  money  with  which  I  first  went  to  college. 
I  said  to  him,  in  reply  to  his  reference  to  the  change  in  his 
fortune,  that  when  he  was  rich  he  had  not  thought  that  his 
money  made  him  better  than  other  people,  and  now  that  he 
was  poor,  others  did  not  think  that  poverty  made  him  any 
less.  Money  had  never  been  the  pedestal  to  elevate  him, 
and  when  he  lost  it  he  stood  no  lower. 

I  find  many  passages  describing  Job's  happiness  and 
prosperity,  and  setting  forth  his  virtues,  which  fit  my  sub- 
ject as  if  written  for  it.  But  the  picture  of  Job's  suffer- 
ings fails  me  in  two  particulars.  In  the  first  place,  the 
Book  of  Job,  being  a  true  picture  of  those  early  times, 
knows  nothing  of  womanhood  as  developed  under  Christ- 
ianity. The  simplicity  and  comparative  purity  of  the 
patriarchal  age  knew  no  such  character  as  the  Christian 
wife  and  mother.  Job's  misery  was  only  full  when  his 
wife  bade  him  curse  God  and  die.     These  men  of  whom  I 


42 

speak  were  not  tried  by  any  such  experience.  Their 
wives,  coming  of  the  same  true  hearted  and  wholesome 
stock  as  themselves,  shared  their  virtues  and  were  their 
help  and  strength   and  comfort  in  all  misfortunes. 

In  the  second  place,  they  had  this  further  advan- 
tage over  Job.  In  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  they  had 
learned  how  suffering  and  loss  may  be  the  most  precious 
experience  of  a  Heavenly  Father's  love.  I  have  searched 
through  the  Book-  of  Job  for  some  words  of  his  which 
might  express  the  simple  unconscious  grace  and  patient 
magnanimity  with  which  they  endured  the  sorrows  and 
misfortune  which  came  to  them.  I  could  find  no  such  pas- 
sage. With  all  of  Job's  greatness  and  goodness,  there  was 
something  lacking  in  him  which  these  men  had.  It  was 
their  knowledge  of  Christ  and  the  life  revealed  in  Him. 
"I  say  unto  you,"  says  our  Master,  speaking  of  the  last 
and  greatest  of  the  Jewish  prophets,  "that  among  them 
that,  born  of  woman,  there  hath  not  arisen  a  greater 
prophet  than  John  the  Baptist.  Nevertheless,  he  that  is 
least  in  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven,"  that  is,  the  least  of 
those  who  truly  love  and  truly  follow  Christ,  "is  greater 
than  he." 

It  seems  to  me  that  there  is  no  nobler  or  more  pathetic  pic- 
ture in  the  gallery  of  my  memory  than  that  of  the  youngest 
and  last  survivor  of  these  three  brothers.  He  lived  long- 
est, he  suffered  most;  in  him  was  concentrated  the  tragedy 
of  the  generation  and  the  old  order  which  he  represented. 
Noble  in  figure,  dignified  and  gracious  in  manners,  patient 
yet  brave  and  generous  in  spirit,  of  a  heart  which  had  never 
grown  cold  or  narrow,  he  had  lived  to  see  his  five  sons  all 
laid  to  rest  before  him,  and  to  feel  the  burden  of  providing 
for  the  widow  and  the  fatherless  laid  upon  his  aged  shoul- 
ders. And  as  the  last  remnant  of  his  fortune  seemed  to  be 
slipping  from  his  hand,  he  said  to  his  niece:  "The  world 
is  too  hard  for  me.  If  I  could  see  how  my  wife  and  my  son's 
widow  and  orphans  could  be  provided  for,  I  should  be  glad 
to  lie  down  and  die."  It  was  not  the  want  of  courage  or 
of  faith.  It  was  that  strange  prescience  which  approaching 
death  sometimes  gives.  His  work  was  done.  His  death 
came  instantaneous,   painless,   without  weakness  or  suffer- 


43 

Ing-,  awful  in  t"he  first  shock,  but  merciful  and  provi- 
dential when  properl}-  considered.  And  his  death  pro- 
Arided  for  the  widows  and  the  orphans  as  his  life  could  no 
longer  have  done. 

Job  had  his  vindication  and  his  reward  in  this  life.  That 
simpler  age  doubtless  needed  visible  evidence  of  the  divine 
favor.  The  Christian  looks  above  the  world  of  sense, 
and  finds  in  his  consciousness  of  God,  and  his  faith  in  the 
divine  goodness,  his  stay  and  his  comfort.  Those  happy 
limes  of  the  past,  that  old  world  of  our  youth,  these  noble 
men  and  their  fellows,  save  two  placid  and  faithful  souls,  all 
are  gone  But  the  world  is  better  because  they  lived  in  it; 
and  we  are  prouder  of  such  memories  than  we  could  be 
had  they  left  wealth  and  splendor  behind  them.  They 
rest  from  their  labors-  may  we  all  attain  unto  their  rest. 


'■:■■■»;■■  \.j-:^,W-.::^-A'\>.):ti  ,-k  ■>..■ '  '.'-J. >;>. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  N.C.  AT  CHAPEL  HILL 


00034020951 


FOR  USE  ONLY  IN 
THE  NORTH  CAROLINA  COLLECTION 


Form  No.  A-368,  Rev.  8/95 


